Egypt Archive
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The Unwritten Chapter: Notes towards a Social and Religious History of Geniza Magic
Posted on July 23, 2014 | No CommentsHow might the historian of religions write a social and religious history of Jewish magic in the medieval Islamicate world? -
Two Rabbinic Views of Christianity in the Middle Ages
Posted on June 15, 2014 | No CommentsIn the sessions of our section over the past decade, I introduced a significant distinction between two rabbinic attitudes in the Mediterranean countries during the Middle Ages of 12th and 13th centuries as to their view of Christianity. -
The Daily Life of Slavery and the Global Reach of Slavery in Medieval Egypt, 969-1250 CE
Posted on May 1, 2014 | No CommentsThis dissertation examines the geography of the slave trade, the role of slavery in the household, and the lives of domestic slave women in the Egyptian Jewish community under the rule of the Fatimid caliphate and Ayyubid sultanate -
The Red Sea and the Port of Clysma. A Possible Gate of Justinian’s Plague
Posted on March 10, 2014 | No CommentsThe aim of this study is to present the sea and land commercial routes of the Byzantine Egypt and their role in the dissemination of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis from the Red Sea to Mediterranean ports. The Mediterranean port of Pelusium was considered as the starting point of the first plague pandemic... -
Drug Overdose, Disability and Male Friendship in Fifteenth-Century Mamluk Cairo
Posted on February 22, 2014 | No CommentsShihab al-Din al-Hijazi (1388-1471) was an unexceptional legal student in Mamluk Cairo, who, at the age of 24, overdosed on marking nut, a potent plant drug valued for its memory-enhancing properties -
Ibn Wāṣil: An Ayyūbid Perspective on Frankish Lordships and Crusades
Posted on January 27, 2014 | No CommentsIbn Wāṣil (604/1208-697/1298) was a relatively prominent scholar and administrator who had close links with the political and military elites of Ayyūbid- and early Mamlūk-period Egypt and Syria throughout his career. -
Environmental Effects in the Agriculture of Medieval Egypt
Posted on January 20, 2014 | No CommentsAgriculture has been the main source of the economy for all dynasties established in Egypt and the Mamluk kingdom was no exception. -
Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition
Posted on November 24, 2013 | No CommentsA diverse yet distinctive group of magical amulets has periodically attracted the attention of scholars from Renaissance times to the present. The amulets take many forms, including engraved gems and cameos, enamel pendants, die-struck bronze tokens, cast or engraved pendants of gold, silver, bronze, and lead, and rings of silver and bronze. -
Grain Prices in Cairo and Europe in the Middle Ages
Posted on November 14, 2013 | No CommentsHow did price levels and trends in Cairo compare to those in Europe? -
Synthesis of Thought and Action: Muslim-Christian Political, Military and Theological Cohesion From the Time of the First Caliphs to the Reign of the Fatimid Empire
Posted on October 19, 2013 | No CommentsMuslim-Christian theological synthesis, beginning in the Umayyad period and culminating in eleventh century Fatimid Egypt, will be explored through the particular lens of Coptic-Christian clerical and lay efforts to appropriate the Arabic cultural language as a means of religious survival and dialogue with Muslim apologists. -
The Black Death in the Middle East and Europe
Posted on October 9, 2013 | No CommentsI specifically look at England and Egypt as case studies and I'm really gonna talk more about Egypt here. -
Sending Home for Mom and Dad: The Extended Family Impulse in Mamluk Politics
Posted on September 21, 2013 | No CommentsAlthough the biological sons of sultans did inherit their father’s positions, everyone, including the dying sultan and the son himself, knew that the son was functioning as a placeholder, since real power would then be assumed by one or even multiple commanders, either covertly, in which case the nominal sultan remained as a figurehead, or overtly, in which case the nominal sultan was deposed. -
Sayyida Hurra: The Isma’ili Sulayhid Queen of Yemen Farhad Daftary
Posted on September 8, 2013 | No CommentsThis article explores the career of queen Sayyida Hurra, she was the political and religious leader of Sulayhid Yemen, which was an extremely rare occurrence and privilege for a woman in Fatimid times -
Plagues, Epidemics and Their Social and Economic Impact on the Egyptian Society during the Mameluke Period
Posted on July 24, 2013 | No CommentsThe study aims at shedding light on plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt during the Mameluke period through describing the plague disease and the plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt, and their social and economic effects on the Egyptian society, The study is based on some historical sources contemporary of the Mameluke period, especially the book "Al-Suluk li-marifatiduwal Al-muluk" by Al Maqrizi. -
Life and death in late ancient and early medieval Egyptian monasteries
Posted on June 11, 2013 | No CommentsSince 2006, Stephen Davis has served as Executive Director of the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project, conducting field work and training graduate students at two sites in Egypt: the White Monastery near Sohag and the Monastery of John the Little in Wadi al-Natrun. -
Wonders and Wisdom: Anglo-Saxons and the East
Posted on April 11, 2013 | No CommentsWhat the Anglo-Saxons ‘‘knew’’ about Moslems and Jews, and about Babylon and Egypt and India, depended upon Biblical exegesis, saints’ lives, and other texts derived from Latin sources. Numerous Old English texts, as well as Latin versions that circulated and were copied in Anglo-Saxon England, concern Asia; these are quite varied in genre and in content. -
Bīmāristān Al-Manṣūrī: State and Medical Practice in Mamluk Egypt (1285-1390)
Posted on April 11, 2013 | No CommentsThe Bīmāristān was the major part of a huge complex built in the center of Cairo in 1285 by the Mamluk Sultan al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn, who was the founder of the Qalāwūnid dynasty/dawlah that ruled the Mamluk empire for over a century -
The Death Toll of Justinian’s Plague and Its Effects on the Byzantine Empire
Posted on April 4, 2013 | No CommentsIn 541 a plague arrived in Egypt and rapidly began to spread. The following account of the beginning of the plague, while clearly an exaggeration still shows the impact of the disease. -
Al-Maqrizi and the Fatimids
Posted on March 3, 2013 | No CommentsThere are other less dramatic examples. Only a small section of the massive history by al-Musabbih ̋| (d. 420/1029)2 has been recovered and it is now in the Escorial. On the title page of that manuscript is the signature of al-Maqr|z|, indicating apparently that he once possessed and/or used it. -
Christmas in the Qur’än: the Qur’änic account of Jesus’s nativity and Palestinian local tradition
Posted on December 24, 2012 | No CommentsThe confluence of this evidence strongly suggests that the traditions associated with Kathisma church gave rise to the rather peculiar account of Christ’s Nativity found in the Qur ̄an. -
The 727/1327 Silk Weavers’ Rebellion in Alexandria: Religious Xenophobia, Homophobia, or Economic Grievances
Posted on December 7, 2012 | No CommentsA brawl in the streets of 14th century Alexandria between Egyptians and Europeans - what caused it? -
The Indigenous Christians of the Arabic Middle East in an Age of Crusaders, Mongols, and Mamlūks (1244-1366)
Posted on December 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe chronological period of study is highlighted by the usurpation of the Ayyūbid-ruled Sultanate by the Baḥrī Mamlūks, while the two most important political-military events in the region were the collapse of the Crusader States and the invasion of the Mongols. This thesis will examine how events impacted on the nine Christian Confessions, treating each separately. -
“Qa’idat al-Mamlakah”: Structural Changes in Taxation and Fiscal Administration during the Reign of al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun
Posted on November 29, 2012 | No CommentsAl-Nasir Muhammad’s reign was defined by his reorganization of the tax system and investment in the agricultural infrastructure of the sultanate in a manner which fundamentally altered the economic structure of the Mamluk state. -
Light through the dark ages: The Arabist contribution to Western ophthalmology
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsBecause blindness was a major cause of morbidity in the medieval Arab world, as is the case in the developing world today, Arabist physicians developed much exposure to ophthalmological conditions, and nearly every major medical work written at the time had a chapter on diseases of the eye. -
Coptic Conversion and the Islamization of Egypt
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsMost recently, Tamer el-Leithy has made a comprehensive study of Coptic conversion during the Mamluk period. In length and depth, this still-unpublished work eclipses the preceding article-length studies. Its subject is focused on conversion among the Coptic upper class in Cairo during the fourteenth century...
